Koirala sworn in PM
againKATHMANDU,
Dec 24  Mr Girija Prasad Koirala was today
reappointed the Prime Minister of Nepal after King
Birendra administered the oath of office.UN
council fails to agree on IraqNEW YORK, Dec 24  The UN Security Council
failed yesterday to agree on the next steps it should
take on the situation in Iraq following last weeks
US-British air strikes.

KATHMANDU:
Newly appointed Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
(left) takes the oath in front of Nepalese King Birendra
during a ceremony at Royal Palace in Kathmandu on
Thursday. Mr Koirala came back to power with the help of
a communist group despite losing majority in Parliament.
 AP/PTI

Jiang
Zemin orders crackdownBEIJING,
Dec 24  President Jiang Zemin has ordered
swift action to crush any factors
that could destabilise China even as
pro-democracy activists today began a 100-day
relay fast against the jailing of top Chinese
dissidents.

NATO
ex-chief found guilty of graftBRUSSELS,
Dec 24  Former NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes
received a three-year suspended jail sentence on
Wednesday after being convicted of corruption in two
defence contracts he awarded in the late 1980s when he
was the Economics Minister.

Impeachment
judge hates to waste timeWASHINGTON,
Dec 24  Its a short walk across the street
from the Supreme Court to the Capitol, where Chief
Justice William H. Rehnquist will preside over US
President Bill Clintons impeachment trial. However,
the trip will take him from the relative anonymity of the
television-free court into millions of US living rooms.

Octuplets
given namesHOUSTON,
Dec 24  The worlds only living
octuplets have been named as the three-day-old
infants struggled for life in critical but stable
condition.

USA
under attack on tritiumWASHINGTON,
Dec 24  The Clinton administration has come under
severe attack for its decision to use its state-run
nuclear reactors to make tritium, a key hydrogen bomb
material.

CGIAR
puts ban on terminator knowhowWASHINGTON,
Dec 24  The Consultative Group on the International
Agricultural Research, an umbrella organisation for 16
research institutions across the world to improve the
worlds food production, has banned terminator
technology that prevents seed germination.

Madhuris ignorance
decriedKATHMANDU,
Dec 24  Some 150 angry students yesterday
rallied in the Nepalese Capital of Kathmandu
against leading actress Madhuri Dixit over
comments she made about the Himalayan state.

KATHMANDU, Dec 24 (PTI)
 Mr Girija Prasad Koirala was today reappointed the
Prime Minister of Nepal after King Birendra administered
the oath of office ending a fortnight-long political
crisis in the Himalayan kingdom.

Mr Koirala, who quit
earlier this week, is expected to form a new cabinet
shortly after he formed a fresh coalition in the
205-member House of Representatives with his former foes,
the Communist United Marxist-Leninist (UML) party and the
Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP).

Mr Koirala, head of the
centrist Nepali Congress Party, told a news conference
after the swearing-in ceremony that he was reappointed
after King Birendra received written confirmation of the
support of 135 MPs.

Mr Koirala, who had been
Prime Minister since last April, resigned on Monday after
a small Communist faction, separate from the UML, pulled
out of the cabinet.

King Birendra refused to
accept Mr Koiralas recommendation to dissolve
Parliament and order fresh elections and initiated
efforts to form a new government.

The 72-year-old Koirala
struck a power-sharing deal with UML, the largest
Communist group in Parliament, which has agreed to back
him on condition that he appoint its members to the
cabinet and call early elections.

UNI adds: Meanwhile, the
Pratinidhi Sabha, too, met this afternoon briefly in a
special session which, as a result of the recent turn of
events, was only a formality. Requisition to seek a
censure of the erstwhile Koriala-led minority government,
the special session lost its unity in view of that
government having resigned and having been replaced by
another.

Speaker Ram Chandra
Poudyal made this very observation immediately after the
session convened. Thereafter given the floor, Mr Bamdev
Gautam, general secretary of the CPN(ML) - chief sponsors
of the censure move - concurred that the special session
had lost its relevance following the recent political
developments. He, however, indicated that his party would
act as a responsible main
opposition in relating to the new government
thereby ruling out his partys joining the new
coalition.

The present Pratinidhi
Sabha, elected in mid-term elections in November, 1994,
is a hung House. The Nepali Congress is the
single-largest party having 89 members in the 205-seat
House currently suffering two vacancies.

Besides, the House has two
members of the Maoist Nepal Mazdoor Kisan Party and two
ultra-Left Independents.

Prime Minister Koirala
told newspersons that he would be forming his Council of
Ministers within the next few days to include
representatives from the CPN (UML) and the NSP. My
offer to other parties to join in government remains
open... We would like to ensure participation of all
parties in conducting freely, fairly and peacefully the
next parliamentary polls...

According to well-informed
sources within both parties, the NC-CPN (UML) agreement
envisages four Cabinet berths for the NC, three for the
CPN (UML) and one for the NSP in the Koirala-coalition.

NEW YORK, Dec 24 (DPA)
 The UN Security Council failed yesterday to agree
on the next steps it should take on the situation in Iraq
following last weeks US-British air strikes against
Iraqi military installations.

The 15-nation council held
its third meeting in as many days this week to agree on a
statement stipulating preliminary programmes to revive
the disarmament of Iraq, which was halted by the air
strikes.

Diplomats said a draft
statement prepared by Russia and amendments submitted by
some countries would have to be studied by the national
capitals.

The Council President,
Bahraini Ambassador Jassim Mohammed Buallay, said
following the meeting, Russia had promised to hold
consultations in the coming days and submit an
agreed text next week.

The draft could not be
agreed due mainly to opposition from the USA and Britain.
The draft criticised the air strikes while reaffirming
the councils strong preference for
political settlement through its resolutions rather than
by the use of force.

The USA demanded the
deletion of all criticism of the air strikes from the
draft.

The Iraqi Government
decided after the air strikes to terminate its
cooperation with UNSCOM after accusing it of working for
US interests.

WASHINGTON (UNI): The
USAs new Iraq strategy is to contain President
Saddam Hussein in the short and medium terms, by force if
necessary, and to work towards a new government over the
long term.

National Security Adviser
to US President Bill Clinton Samuel R. Berger, who spelt
out the new strategy here on Wednesday, said:
Change will come to Iraq, at a time and in a manner
that we can influence but not predict.

Despite the destruction
that four days of US air strikes inflicted on Mr
Husseins military assets, there was little
likelihood that the Iraqi leader could be toppled through
air power alone, Mr Berger observed.

In the meantime, Mr Berger
pointed out, the USA would do what it could
to strengthen the Iraqi opposition.

BEIJING, Dec 24 (PTI)
 President Jiang Zemin has ordered swift
action to crush any factors that could destabilise
China even as pro-democracy activists today began a
100-day relay fast against the jailing of top Chinese
dissidents.

Any factors that
could jeopardise our stability must be annihilated in the
early stages. This policy has been proved ... and is very
important and effective, Jiang said while
addressing a national conference of top law enforcement
officials here yesterday.

Citing mounting
socio-economic problems, Jiang said if certain social and
economic problems were not tackled without delay,
Chinas overall stability could be threatened.

China swiftly sentenced
three leading dissidents this week on the charges of
subversion and plotting to overthrow the Communist
Party-led government.

Two pro-democracy
activists began a 24-hour fast in the northern province
of Liaoning to protest against the crackdown on the
dissidents, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre of
Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.

More would join the relay
fast in 16 provinces over the next 100 days in batches of
two, it said.

In his second hardline
speech in a week, Jiang asked the Judicial and Public
Security Departments to remain vigilant next year and
take tough measures against crime since 1999 marked the
50th anniversary of Communist rule in China.

BRUSSELS, Dec 24 (AP)
 Former NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes received
a three-year suspended jail sentence on Wednesday after
being convicted of corruption in two defence contracts he
awarded in the late 1980s when he was the Economics
Minister.

After a four-month trial,
the Supreme Court also gave two-year suspended sentences
for corruption to former Defence Minister Guy Coeme,
former Vice-Premier Guy Spitaels, and Serge Dassault,
head of Frances Dassault Aviation concern.

Eight former aides and
associates received suspended sentences of up to two
years, also for corruption. All defendants lost the right
to vote in elections or run for office for up to five
years.

The court said Mr Claes
(60) had to know that Italys Agusta Spa offer to
pay $ 1.37 million to win a December-1988 contract for 46
army helicopters was a bribe for his Dutch-speaking
Socialist Party.

He said Mr Claes and
others bent the rules at the expense of Frances
Aerospatiale Sa, which was also bidding for the contract.

The court also found
Dassault Aviation Sas gift of $ 1.62 million to
grease a June 1989 deal to equip Belgian F-16 jets with
new electronics was a bribe to beat a US rival, Litton
Industries Inc. Another $ 900,000 from Dassault ended up
in the coffers of French-speaking socialists.

WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (AP)
 Its a short walk across the street from the
Supreme Court to the Capitol, where Chief Justice William
H. Rehnquist will preside over US President Bill
Clintons impeachment trial. However, the trip will
take him from the relative anonymity of the
television-free court into millions of US living rooms.

Justice Rehnquist will be
only the second Chief Justice to preside over a
presidential impeachment trial, but the first to conduct
at least some of the proceedings on TV.

He will run a very
fair, efficient proceeding and he will not allow it to
get out of control, said Washington lawyer Theodore
Olson, who has often argued before the highest court.

Mr Charles Cooper, a
former law clerk to Justice Rehnquist and a frequent
advocate before the high court, predicted the Chief
Justice would use his authority to keep an impeachment
trial focused on the facts that were relevant and keep
the extraneous or purely political stuff to a minimum.

Justice Rehnquist is
keeping his thoughts about an impeachment trial to
himself. However, at the court, he is known for his calm,
gentlemanly manner and ability to run a tight ship.

The 74-year-old Rehnquist,
nominated by President Richard Nixon, joined the high
court in 1972. He is one of the courts most
conservative members but is well-liked by colleagues of
all ideologies.

Justice Rehnquist
seemingly hates to waste time. He keeps oral arguments to
a strict one-hour limit and has shortened the justices At
the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice acts as presiding
officer and has one of nine votes. At a Senate
impeachment trial, Justice Rehnquist would have no vote
and a limited role as presiding officer. He would rule on
questions involving evidence and other incidental
matters, but a simple majority vote of Senators could
override his judgement.

Justice Rehnquist already
is somewhat of an expert on impeachment. His 1992 book,
Grand Inquests, detailed the 1868 Senate
impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, presided
over by Chief Justice Salmon Chase, and the 1805
impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase.
Both were acquitted.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles
Times reported that President Clinton says he is
reconciled to his impeachment, is confident that history
will vindicate him and has purged himself of the anger he
felt toward his attackers.

The Times, in a front-page
report on Tuesday on the Presidents mood as he
faces a possible Senate trial that could remove him from
office, said Mr Clinton made the comments while talking
to one of its reporters and other guests at a White House
Christmas party on Sunday.

The Times quoted Mr
Clinton as joking that negotiating a peace accord in
Northern Ireland earlier this year was easier than trying
to pry a censure resolution from
congressional Republicans.

But The Times story, by
Washington reporter Elizabeth Shogren, said a
worried look briefly crossed his (Clintons) face
when he said that the Senate stage of the process remains
unpredictable.

The Times said that when
asked how he felt to have been impeached, Mr Clinton
replied: Not bad. And then added that he
believed that within 10 or 20 years would be on the right
side of history and that historians would not give undue
weight to the impeachment when they analyse his
presidency.

The Times quoted Mr
Clinton as saying he had purged himself of
the anger he felt toward his attackers because anyone who
harboured hatred paid a price for it.

HOUSTON, Dec 24 (AFP)
 The worlds only living octuplets have been
named as the three-day-old infants struggled for life in
critical but stable condition.

Doctors were encouraged as
the smallest of the infants, initially named Baby E,
needed less oxygen from a ventilator, a statement from
Texas Childrens Hospital said yesterday.

The infant girl was named
Odera, which means God has my life in the Ibo
tribal language.

Mother Nkem Chukwu gave
birth by caesarean section to seven babies  five
girls and two boys  on Sunday after giving birth
naturally to a girl on December 8.

The octuplets
Nigeria-born parents gave the babies names from the Ibo
tribal tradition. The girl, born on December 8, formerly
known as Baby A, was named Chukwuebuka Nkemjika Louis and
will be known as Ebuka, meaning God is great.

Baby B was named Chidinma
Anulika Louis and will be nicknamed Chidi. Her name means
God is beautiful. Baby C was named
Chinecherem Nwabugwu Louis and will be nicknamed Echerem,
meaning God thinks of me.

Baby D was named Chimaijem
Otito Louis and will be nicknamed Chima. The name means
God knows my way. Baby F, the first boy, was
named Chukwubuikem Maduabuchi Louis and will be nicknamed
Ikem, meaning God is my strength.

Baby G was named Chijioke
Chinedum Louis and will be nicknamed Jioke, meaning
God is my leader. Baby H was named Chinagorom
Chidiebere Louis and will be nicknamed Gorom. Her name
means God is merciful.

However, the holiday mood
surrounding the worlds only living octuplets dimmed
with reports that the infants father has been
charged with assaulting his mother-in-law in a domestic
quarrel three months ago.

Iyke Louis Udobi is
scheduled to be tried on the misdemeanour charge in
February and faces a $ 4,000 fine and a year in jail if
convicted, prosecutors said according to reports in the
local and national media yesterday.

Todays Washington
Post quoted Udobis lawyer as saying the charge was
bogus. A police report indicated that
Udobis wife was present but was not hit in the
incident, it said.

News of Udobis
September arrest and impending trial came on the same day
his new-born children were named.

WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (PTI)
 The Clinton administration has come under severe
attack for its decision to use its state-run nuclear
reactors to make tritium, a key hydrogen bomb material.

Democratic Congressman
Edward Markey, ranking minority member of the House
Commerce Subcommittee that oversees the US civilian
nuclear reactors, condemned the decision to modify three
nuclear power reactors of the Tennessee Valley Authority
to also make tritium.

If we are mixing our
civilian and military nuclear programmes in the US, then
the rest of the world will not pay much heed to our
admonitions to them that they should refrain from using
their civilian nuclear energy programmes for military
purposes, Mr Markey said in a statement.

We have breached the
53-year separation between atoms for peace and atoms for
war. We cannot credibly preach nuclear temperance,
he said.

WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (PTI)
 The Consultative Group on the International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an umbrella organisation
for 16 research institutions across the world to improve
the worlds food production, has banned
teminator technology that prevents seed
germination.

The companies and
governments of the developed nations that back the
technology want farmers to buy seed for each crop every
year and not save some of the old production to germinate
the new crop.

The ban on terminator
technology was announced in the latest issue of
CGIAR News.

Russia, USA sign food aid dealMOSCOW:
The USA and Russia signed a $ 625 million food aid
agreement on Wednesday after months of negotiations,
clearing the way for deliveries of American food to
prevent hunger among Russias needy. The USA will
donate 1.5 metric tons of wheat to Russia free of charge,
and provide another 1.5 metric tons of various
agricultural commodities under a long-term loan. An
additional 100,000 tons of various foodstuffs will be
distributed directly to the poor.  AP

Army empoweredISLAMABAD:
A new draconian law empowers the Pakistani armed forces
to try even petty crimes like power theft  the
penalty for which could go upto Rs 50 lakh. Three
ordinances issued by President Rafiq Tarar on Tuesday
have given the countrys armed forces the additional
charge of helping the water and power development
authority check pilferage of electricity.  UNI

Persona non grataUNITED
NATIONS: The USA has declared three staff
members of the Cuban mission to the UN as Persona non
grata and asked them to leave the country by December 28,
the UN announced on Wednesday.  PTI

Land Bill rejectedMOSCOW:
Russian Parliament on Wednesday rejected the latest
version of a land bill designed to expand the ownership
of private property, including farmland. President Boris
Yeltsin has been battling with the Communist-dominated
Parliament for years in a bid to increase private land
ownership. But seven years after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, Russia still has no comprehensive law on
land ownership.  AP

Bhuttos
supporterISLAMABAD:
A woman loyalist of Pakistans former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto blackened the face of a prosecution
witness in court for telling lies to the
Bench about her leader, sources said. The two judges
hearing a corruption case against Ms Bhutto in Rawalpindi
had retired for a break when the opposition activist
threw dye on the witness saying, your face will be
blackened on the day of judgement hereafter but I will
make you ugly in this world as well.  DPA

26 killed in
AngolaLUANDA:
Twenty-six persons were killed and at least 24 wounded in
renewed fighting between rebels and government troops in
Central Angola, commercial radio reported on Wednesday.
Troops loyal to the Angolan Rebel Movement Unita 
the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
 shelled the strategic and government-held town of
Kuito on Tuesday.  Reuters